Tokkai Hei 11-210488 published by the Japan Patent Office discloses a protective device for protecting external components of an internal combustion engine for a vehicle from suffering damage during a vehicle collision.
According to this prior art, an internal combustion engine is disposed along the longitudinal center plane in the front section of a vehicle. In other words, the engine is disposed so that the crank shaft is substantially parallel to the vehicle axle. An external component such as a fuel pump is fitted to the front face of the internal combustion engine. One end of a high-temperature pipe for cooling water is connected to the engine. The cooling water pipe is highly rigid and circulates cooling water from the engine to a radiator which is positioned in front of the engine. The other end of the high-temperature cooling water pipe is connected to the radiator after crossing the front face of the fuel pump so that the fuel pump is protected.
A muffler cover covering the fuel pump is respectively fixed to a cylinder head cover covering the cylinder head of the engine 1 and the high-temperature cooling water pump. The muffler cover muffles noise from the pump. Furthermore when the vehicle experiences a collision, the muffler cover reduces the impact load applied to the fuel pump.